


The Tower

by romeojohannes



Series: Futuristic Fairytale [1]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Other, gonna have everyone eventually, hopefully
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-16
Updated: 2014-06-16
Packaged: 2018-02-04 20:41:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1792549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/romeojohannes/pseuds/romeojohannes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A dystopian fairytale AU in which Marius is an ex-Prince who is now part of an underground organization that rescues prisoners of the war on magical beings and Parnasse is an exiled ex-Prince who may or may not be a magical being.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Tower

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t know what I’m doing.

The sun was hot but the breeze was crisp and cool, ruffling through Marius’ hair as he rode towards the tower. He missed days like this. He’d spent too many nights in the underground lately and had almost forgotten what the air could smell like when it wasn’t reeking of garbage and smoke. It also didn’t help that his study was right beside Combeferre’s lab, the smell of oil and chemicals making him feel lightheaded half the time. But now he was riding through what probably used to be a forest, and the little bit of vegetation that was left leant a sort of comfort to him. After all, his last mission had taken him through a swamp of nuclear waste, and his target didn’t even end up being there. That’s been happening more and more lately.

Marius was getting closer to the tower; he could see it now. It was tall and black, armoured with a kind of metal that Marius couldn’t quite identify from his distance, but considering its purpose it was obviously quite dense. He checked his bag and wondered if his equipment would be suitable to allow him to climb it. Their materials were limited and outdated, but Feuilly and Combeferre could usually figure out a way to get by. But they were always weary that the people they were fighting against could develop their tech faster.

He reached the castle and hopped off his horse, petting her mane. He knew she was an android, but he always treated her as if she were alive. Which she was, in a way.

Marius gazed all the way up the tower and saw the window near the top. He’d had trickier rescues, but he still sighed as he took out his hooks and started magnetizing them to the tower’s wall. He started climbing up with practiced ease, and contemplated why anyone would bother building a tower in the first place. Usually the magical fugitives he sought after were held in large hoards, locked away in old warehouses, or underground prisons. There was never just one, and they were never in a place so… _traditional_. Marius nearly laughed as he realized the irony of his being a prince- well, ex-prince, and climbing a tower to rescue someone in distress. Whoever built this tower certainly had a twisted sense of humor.

He announced himself before he reached the top, not wanting to startle whoever might be up there.

“Hello, I’m coming up.” He yelled. “Don’t be afraid, I’m coming to- er, rescue you.”

He shook his head embarrassingly. He always felt slightly ridiculous playing the ‘hero’. He had never thought about being involved with this kind of work until he met Courfeyrac, or rather, was saved by Courfeyrac. He was being tracked down by a couple of agents and Courfeyrac had found him quivering in an ally trying to activate a cloaking device with a rusty screwdriver and a couple AA batteries. They brought him back to their hideout and introduced him to the rest of the Resistance. Nearly a year later and he was running rescue missions on his own.

He reached the top of the tower and climbed in the window. There was no lighting, which was not surprising for a prison but considering whoever built it took the time to make it look like something out of a fairytale one would think they could take the time to put in electrical work. But Marius supposed they weren’t feeling especially accommodating. He looked around, looking for a sign of life anywhere. He didn’t want to use his scanner until he had to. The room was quite spacious for its purpose, and its features seemed to match the fairytale theme. There was a large vanity in one corner, and as Marius got closer he realized that the desk was made of real wood, which he rarely saw anymore. The mirror was crystal clear and trimmed with silver. Increasingly more peculiar was the huge canopy bed in the middle of the room, which was absolutely unheard of in this day and age, but it was covered and cobwebs and Marius doubted if anyone had ever slept in it at all. But the strangest thing about the room was the absence of any self-restoring food mechanism. Although the captors were cruel, the law forbade them to starve the fugitives out. It seemed that no one had been living there for years.

Marius decided to leave, feeling the disappointment of yet another failed mission, but remembered to scan for any signs of life. He booted up his scanner and leaned against the wall waiting for it to pick up anything. After a moment he heard the familiar ‘ping’ of the machine reporting its results.

-Scan inconclusive-

His eyebrows knit together. He had never gotten a message like this before. It was either positive or negative; there was either someone there or there wasn’t. He hit it gently against the palm of his hand, grimacing at the thought of a technical malfunction _now that he was at the top of a tower in the middle of nowhere_. The results stayed. He was just about to re-scan when he heard a shuffle from across the room. His heart leapt.

“H-hello? Is anyone here? I promise I’m not going to hurt you.”

He took out a flashlight and shined it around the room, catching his reflection in the mirror. He guessed his orange hazmat-like suit didn’t look too friendly, but it was protectoral. At least he didn’t have to wear the big heavy helmet for this mission, and Courfeyrac told him he “has a pleasant face”.

There was another sound of movement behind him and he turned to the bed.

“It’s okay, I’m part of the Resistance.”

He crouched down to shine the light under the bed and nearly jumped out of his skin when his green eyes were met with a pair of glowing yellow ones.

“ _Get back_.” hissed the voice. It wasn’t obvious to Marius what kind of creature they were by their voice.

Marius was undeterred.

“Please let me help you.”

He flicked off the light and tentatively reached out a hand. The dark figure shrunk back further into the darkness.

“ _Leave me alone. Don’t touch me.”_ The more the voice spoke the more Marius wondered whether they were of fae descent, as their tone was smooth and gentle, yet authoritative. But he could usually tell when he was being affected by charmspeak.

“I can take you to a place where you will be safe. Just come out” there was no reply. Marius sat down beside where he assumed they were hiding. “I’m Marius, by the way.”

“ _Montparnasse._ ” The voice replied.

“Well Montparnasse, I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but it’s my duty to get you out of this situation. Won’t you please come out?”

“ _I’m no charity case.”_

“I assure you, that is not our intention. We travel across the nation liberating- that’s Enjolras’ word by the way, not mine- anyway we go around trying to help magical creatures who have been imprisoned unfairly and bring them to safety.”

“ _I’m not a magical creature_.”

Marius suddenly felt very unsafe. If they were not a magical being, they may be just a human rogue imprisoned for violent crimes. “I’d really like you to come out now.” he stammered out, quickly and meekly.

Low laughter came from under the bed and Marius saw the figure rise from their hiding place.

“If you were looking for a princess, your highness,” they stepped into the sunbeam coming from the window, the light reflecting off of their metal features, “You came to the wrong tower.”


End file.
